Electrical connectors provide signal connections between electronic devices using signal contacts. Often, the signal contacts are so closely spaced that undesirable interference, or “cross talk,” occurs between adjacent signal contacts. Cross talk occurs when a signal on one signal contact induces electrical interference in an adjacent signal contact due to intermingling electrical fields, thereby compromising signal integrity. With electronic device miniaturization and high speed, high signal integrity electronic communications becoming more prevalent, the reduction of noise becomes a significant factor in connector design.
One known method for reducing signal interference includes the use of ground connections that connect the ground reference of a first, or “near-end,” electrical device to the ground reference of a second, or “far-end,” electrical device. The terms “near end” and “far end” are relative terms commonly used in the electrical connector field to refer to the ground references of the devices that the connector connects. The near-end device is the device that transmits a signal through the signal contacts; the far-end device is the device that receives the signal. The near end is the transmission side; the far end is the receiver side. The ground connections help to provide a common reference point in the electrical system such that the signal integrity of the signal passed from the near-end device through the connector to the far-end device is maintained.
Though some prior art electrical connectors do not have ground connections that connect near- and far-end ground references, such prior art electrical connectors operate at relatively slow speeds (e.g., <1 Gb/s). Such slower speed applications typically do not need a common reference point to maintain signal integrity. Some slower speed applications for electrical connectors with no connecting grounds include, for example, tip and ring on a telephone line.
There is a need, however, for a high speed electrical connector (i.e., operating above 1 Gb/s and typically in the range of about 10-20 Gb/s) that is devoid of ground connections between the ground reference of a near-end electrical device and the ground reference of a far-end electrical device to help increase density.